How do people incorporate fridge freezers into new kitchens these days?

Sorry just saw this, yes our cupboards are ceiling height, all the way to the ceiling.

Re ventilation our filler strip doesn’t fully meet the F/F, there is a small gap. This is also so we can slide the F/F out if ever needed.

Our fridge is 1780 high and seems there are a lot this sort of height? But if we got one taller we’d cut down the filler strip and it would still fit.

Not sure what you mean about opening circle. IME they are all much the same - they all need you to be able to open the door nearly 180 degrees so you can pull the bottom drawers out.

I boxed mine in but has space so can go wider (in meantime the ironing board fits!)

You can get an integrated one but without attaching integrated doors. We did that, so we have it boxed in BUT it is flush with the cabinets and the doors are visible.

As an American, this discussion always amuses me because what you call an American fridge, we call a side by side or French door style fridge, and they're not big sellers here.

https://www.kitchenaid.com/pinch-of-help/major-appliances/french-door-side-by-side.html

The most popular style fridge here is freezer on top, fridge below. They also tend to be the most energy efficient.

I'm currently redoing our kitchen, and we're going to keep our enormous, free standing LG fridge with the freezer compartment on top. Americans love a big fridge. Mine is 24 cubic feet capacity split between the freezer and fridge.

Whether they’re smaller, more expensive to buy, more expensive to run, I’d still always have integrated for the look.

Same with when we used to have the washing machine in the kitchen, I’d take a smaller drum for having it integrated.

We have an integrated fridge freezer in the kitchen and then another free standing fridge freezer in the utility room.

Function is more important than appearance.

Just leave a gap of the right size for a freestanding one. Looking streamlined is overrated IMO. Kitchens have to be practical first.

I will never ever ever get integrated white goods again. If they need repair or replacing it's an utter pita.

I bought a house with integrated side by side under counter fridge and freezer and hate them. Not enough space in either, even though they have the largest capacity of any integrated ones on the market.

I tend to agree - integrated appliances are fine (if small) when your kitchen is newly fitted. But as they wear out and need repairs and replacement, they become an absolute headache. It is like signing a contract that limits your future options and will cost you time and money down the line.

We were recently looking for a new kitchen but abandoned it when we could not get a fridge and freezer suitable. I have looked at so many and the capacity is ridiculous unless you go very large. I was happy to go free standing . The size though really does not look good when everything else is integrated.

Judgy judgy people

I like my free standing - I think it looks real and normal

PS And cabinets over

We have a boxed in freestanding American style FF. One side is boxed only up to worktop height and the other side is a broom closet. It is worktop depth so it doesn’t jut out.

Ours is 12 years old, side-by-side and going strong. When it dies I hope to find one of the same dimensions but with a French door fridge on top and freezer below. Worst case, we can swap out the broom closet if necessary.

We had the Samsung American one boxed in the gas started to leak at the back after 7 years so we bought the exact same one

I have an integrated American with ice and water. It’s still on AO at around £1200 so very reasonable and cheap to replace if it fails.

And looks tack tacky tacky

Yes, ventilation is important for longevity of your appliance and this is a potential issue with ceiling height cabinets.
Top boxes that go across the top of the FF are usually half depth so allow for ventilation at the back as long the ceiling does not block the gap at the back!

Also to say our cupboards are ceiling height. So we have two broom type cupboards with a narrow cupboard above like below

We have a freestanding american FF with cupboards built around and on top. The standard size (though you can get bigger/smaller ones than this) is about 1790X912/913). We recently replaced ours as it broke after 10 odd years and had no problem getting a replacement. We actually got the same brand but newer model. We didnt want an integrated appliance as we wanted the water/ice dispenser. We have a cupboard either side which we have no issues opening and a cupboard on top (there is a slight gap at the top which can only really be seen if the fridge doors are open and we were advised to have this for ventilation). The doors have some adjustment on them so when DH fitted the new one he just adjusted to open properly within the space its in

if you box it in you need a lot of space at the back and possibly vents on top to allow air flow.

We have a boxed in American fridge freezer. Just replaced a 20 year old one, and found one that fits the gap. There were quite a few that would have fitted the gap - so this wasn't a concern of mine